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Daogui 刀圭 (Knife-point)

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This page is excerpted from F. Pregadio, Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (Brill, 2025).

Translation

Knife-point (an approximate translation, as this term is virtually impossible to translate when it is used in the context of Neidan; see the entry gui 圭).

Note: A term derived from Waidan (External Alchemy), where daogui—more precisely meaning “tip of a spatula”—denotes a small quantity of the Elixir or of its ingredients.

Definition(s)

▣ In Neidan, dao 刀 (“blade, spatula, knife”) alludes to Metal (jin, also a name of Gold and the Elixir), and gui 圭 stands for the “two Soils” 土土 placed one on top of the other to represent wu 戊 and ji 己, the Yin and Yang aspects of Unity incorporated into the Elixir as True Mercury and True Lead, respectively. The symbolic “knife-point” evokes therefore both the Elixir and its components.

⦿ CTQ 40: Then its color changes to purple: the Reverted Elixir (huandan ①), radiant and glowing, is attained. Minutely powder it and make it into a pellet — even one knife-point is supremely divine. 色轉更為紫，赫然成還丹，粉提以一丸，刀圭最為神。

⦿ RYJ 16: Swallow a knife-point, peep into the skill of Heaven. 飲刀圭，窺天巧。Comm. Wang Jie: “To swallow” means “to have one’s fill”; “knife” means the Metal within Water (shuizhong jin); “point” means the True Soil (zhentu) of wu and ji. This means that when you collect the ingredients (caiyao) to compound the Elixir, you must collect the Metal within the Water. If the Metal cannot ascend of its own, you must avail yourself of the transforming Fire of the wu (Yang) Soil, and force the Metal into movement so that it advances up to the Muddy Pellet (niwan). When it arrives there, Metal transmutes itself into True Liquor (zhenye), which is similar to the Jasper Wine and the Sweet Dew (ganlu).[1] As one drop of it falls into the Yellow Court (huangting), have your fill of it and taste it: its fluid is sweet and delightful. 飲者，宴也。刀者，水中金也。圭者，戊己真土也。言作丹採藥之時，必採水中之金，金不得自昇，必假戊土化火，逼逐金行，度上泥丸。金至此化為真液，如瓊漿甘露，一滴落于黃庭，宴之味之，津液甘美。

⦿ DDZZ 2: The sinciput (ding) is the wu-Soil (wutu), the navel (qi) is the ji-Soil (jitu). The two Soils (ertu, i.e., 土 and 土) form the character gui 圭. Therefore the Immortal Gentleman Lü [Dongbin] called it the “knife-point.” It is only the two things (erwu), Nature and Existence (xingming): one thousand books and ten thousand treatises only deal with this. 頂為戊土，臍為己土，二土為圭字，所以呂仙翁號刀圭也。只是性命二物，千經萬論，只此是也。

▣ An image of the conjunction of Spirit (shen) and Breath (qi).

⦿ TXZZ 4: li ☲ is the Spirit within the heart (xin), called ji-Soil. kan ☵ is the Breath within the kidneys (shen), called wu-Soil. The upper and lower Soils 土 form the character gui 圭. [Therefore] the conjunction of wu and ji is called “knife-point”: it is called “knife-point” because it represents the conjunction of Spirit and Breath. 離，心中之神，曰己土。坎，腎中之炁，曰戊土。上下二土成圭字。戊己合一者，稱刀圭，以喻神炁合一者，亦稱刀圭。

▣ An image of True Yang within Yin. Ant. yuzhi 玉芝 jade mushroom.

⦿ WZP JJ 53: Drum on bamboo to call the turtle (qiaozhu huangui) and swallow the jade mushroom, strum the zither to summon the phoenix (guqin zhaofeng) and ingest the knife-point [of Elixir]. 敲竹喚龜吞玉芝，鼓琴招鳳飲刀圭。 ⦿ FX: The jade mushroom is Yin within Yang. The knife-point is Yang within Yin. 陽中陰：玉芝。陰中陽：刀圭。

Notes

  1. ↑ The name Jasper Wine (qiongjiang 瓊漿) derives from the “Zhaohun” 招魂 (“Summoning the Hun”) poem in the Chuci 楚辭 (Songs of Chu), where this drink is offered to the soul of the deceased in order to entice it to return to life.

☞ gui 圭

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